Life and DeathZelithur
by LittleDonutTohrou
Summary: Zeldris, out of fear and hoplelessness, committed suicide. He had belived that if he died, somebody else could fill his place and be more successful than he was. However, things go south when he is found by a new race, the Minotera, and is resurrected as something new. The catch is, he lost all of his memories. All..but one. This can be seen as a reference to Palm in HxH C.A. arc
1. Mission

"You ready, Zeldris?"

"Born ready."

That's right.

Former Zeldris of Piety and the king of Camelot, Arthur Pendragon have teamed up. Actually, they've been together for a while. About three years to be exact.

They were currently out on a mission, accompanied by Meliodas and Ban, to defeat a new tribe of beings, the Minotera. They were big, bulky, had large horns and a serpent's tail, and they were growing in large numbers amongst the realms, making every race of organisms their prey.

Arthur and Zeldris stuck together to try and eliminate the number of Minotera living in the demon realm. While at the same time, attempting to find and weaken the king of Minotera, the Minotaur, who had harbored himself in central purgatory.

"Alright then. Don't hold back. Let's do this!"

They gave each other a nod before charging in opposite directions, fighting off as many Minotera as possible.

Arthur used Excalibur to chop off the head of one on the left, and used a new magic ability he had acquired to shoot another dead on the right.

With great skill, the orange haired male swung his sword, killing the beasts in tens, while critically wounding more in fives.

Arthur wasn't the only one using his new magic powers to defeat the horned monsters. Zeldris had unlocked some new techniques as well, one of them being a magic ability he called _Gemini. _He used this name because he was able to make a perfect clone of himself, using it to attack an enemy from two sides—or multiple at once. The clone was different from Meliodas's clones, as they both shared the same magic power. Zeldris and his identical twin engulfed their fists in a purple demonic flame, swinging away at the monsters.

After the deaths of about fifty Minotera, Zeldris and Arthur moves back together, back to back, in fighting stance.

"They just keep coming." Arthur puffed out. They had both already broken up a sweat at least ten minutes into the battle.

"I know. How could a species so new prosper so well in only two weeks? There ought to be millions." Zeldris responded, punching another Minotera who had the balls to try and approach them while they were resting their bodies, which were both sweaty and burning with exhaustion.

"Oh, god, let's hope not." Arthur half-joked, "Hey, since we're taking a break, how about we..."

Arthur smirked a bit and turned, moving his hands to hold the demon by his waist.

"As much as I'd love to, it doesn't seem like we have that much time on our hands." Zeldris, giving Arthur the tiniest smile, answered, pointing at the beasts that were starting to approach again.

"Ah, man. These things ruin everything." Arthur sighed, redrawing his sword from its holster.

"I should be able to handle this wave. It's not much. We can spread out. Let Merlin give you further instructions as you go. You think you can do that?" The purple eyed human instructed, cracking his back and stretching his arms.

"Yeah. You sure you'll be okay fighting these guys on your own?"

"Positive."

"Alright. Don't go back on your word, now."

Zeldris was about to turn and leave, when he stopped for a moment.

"What's wrong?" Arthur questioned, shooting and killing another foe.

Zeldris averted his gaze before he quickly kissed Arthur's cheek, and with that, he disappeared.

Arthur stood there shocked for a moment as the demon flew off, his eyes wide as saucers. His cheeks turned a light pink and he smiled before becoming serious again charging once more at the army of Minotera.

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**_"Zeldris, can you hear me?"_**

"Loud and clear. What's the plan?"

**_"I'm not sure if you'll be able to go through with this, but I want you to go check something out."_**

Zeldris wanted to scoff, but he knew better than to do that.

"It's fine. Just tell me what to do and where to go and I'll be on it in a snap."

**_"Love that attitude. Now, what I want you to do is to go to Purgatory Central."_**

"What? Are you joking me?"

(Zeldris hasn't much of a way with human language just yet.)

"You know that's where the Minotaur is. It's too risky for me to go alone."

**_"I know, but it doesn't matter. Even if you did die, it'd be an easy replacement."_**

Ouch.

**_"But in any case, I want you to infiltrate the castle. Don't attack any high level guardsmen. Just the smaller henchmen like the ones you've seen before, but only if you absolutely have to. We need you to find where the Minotaur is being harbored. The Sins and the Commandments, along with other holy knights from Camelot, are planning a siege of the palace."_**

"Are you sure about this, Merlin? Sure, if I die there's no real loss, but what about Arthur? Does he know?"

**_"That's irrelevant as of now. Just do as I told you, demon."_**

Zeldris scowled, but still he begrudgingly went on with the suicide plan.

In about fifteen minutes, he had arrived at central purgatory and faced the palace. It was tattered and destroyed, and the inside was no better. It was dirty, cluttered and reeked of wet fur.

Holding back a gag, the demon quietly maneuvered his body through the walls of the structure and by the pavilion.

_I'm almost there. I can feel his magic presence...it's really powerful._

Zeldris managed to slip under the guards' noses without any scuffle, which was surprising, since the entire place was swarming with Minotera.

As he neared the room where he was sure the Minotaur was hiding, Zeldris felt a shiver go down his spine.

_Such an ominous aura..._

He pressed his back against the wall beside the door and inched closer to the knob. Just as he was about to reach for it, the magical presence had exploded in power and gloom, and Zeldris staggered backward on his heels. His breathing was borderline hyperventilation, and his hearts were filled with a newfound kind of fear.

_What...in the hell was that?!_

Zeldris stood there shaking, his teeth chattering. Suddenly, he felt so cold, yet scortching hit at the same time. As beads of sweat dribbled down his face, he tried to compose himself.

All he needed to do was get a good look at the inside of that room. Who was there? Did they have any weapons? Was there an escape route of any kind?

"Okay," the demon puffed after taking a few deep breaths, "I can do this. Just a peek. That's all."

He realized that the magical presence had disappeared, maybe long since he had began having a panic attack. As irrational as it was to think this way, he felt his nerves become at ease.

_It's died down. Maybe...maybe I really can do this..._

The demon reached for the knob once more, his hand slightly trembling as his fingers just barely grazed the cold metal material. He was almost there. _So close._

And all of a sudden, he was on the floor.

His breathing was erratic, so much so that you couldn't even call it _breathing. _Every inhale hurt, and exhaling was an uphill climb.

His eyes were wider than the moon, and his quaking was almost equal to that of a seizure. His voice was caught in his throat, and he felt like he was being tortured.

It took him a bit to realize that nothing had even happened. He hadn't been attacked.

He tried to stand back up, but was met with more gut-wrenching fear, and he let out a terrorized scream.

Zeldris gripped his hair, hoping that by doing this the fear would go away. Never in his life has he ever experienced such torment. He could watch Gelda die one hundred and six more times, he could relive his brother abandoning him and the death of his father again and even then it could never compare to what he was feeling in that moment.

Then, suddenly—

**_THWACK!!_**

Zeldris finally caught his breath. The relief was enough to completely block out the stinging of the red hand print on his left cheek and the redness of his also stinging hand.

He let out a breathy, empty chuckle.

"Wow...I'm more pathetic than I thought," Zeldris whispered to himself, "I really am a failure, huh?"

The demon shakily got onto his feet and tried to control himself. His head was pounding and he could still feel the pumping of his hearts through this veins.

"I knew it would turn out like this."

Zeldris brought his hand up and summoned seven oddly shaped swords—the same seven that ended his older brother years ago—and sighed.

"She _did _say there wouldn't be any loss anyway."

With a twirl of his fingers, the swords all turned to point in his direction.

_"Here goes nothing..."_

He brought the two fingers down.

Simultaneously, all seven swords pierced through his body, each one attacking a different heart. He could feel the pumping of adrenaline and blood stop, and his body went cold.

The raven haired demon's legs gave out from underneath him, and after the sound of a dying body dropping to the floor, the only sound that kept silence from engulfing the environment was the air escaping the small man.

His eyes turned from black back to their original green, but the usually vibrant(despite the oxymoron)color was now dulled and lifeless—literally.

His final thought before death, because he was unable to muster any more words, was, _"Survive, Arthur. I love you."_

_*_

**"Is this the guy?"**

**"Yeah, looks like it. I've never seen a more pathetic organism in my life."**

**"Pick him up, but carefully. We want to preserve his body. It could come as useful to us later. We'll use hearts from the demons we killed, the ones that aren't destroyed, and we'll resurrect it."**

**"Roger that, lieutenant."**

_The men grabbed hold of the body's arms and dragged the demon to a laboratory. They transplanted four of his hearts from demons and the other three from dead Minotera. Then, they added a mixture of demon blood and Minotera blood and got the new hearts to beat again. It was easy for them to find untouched demon hearts since they had learned that 99.98% of demons all have the same blood type. That .02% that is different is Cusack, Chandler and Meliodas for their own reasons. Minotera, on the other hand, don't have blood types. Their blood is just a chemical that keeps them alive and functioning._

_They wrapped him up in a cocoon with a web-like substance in an empty room, save for a few machines that connected tubes into the cocoon, pumping a gas to keep his currently vacant body freshly preserved as the resurrection process took place, as well as star matter to add onto his zodiac powers_**(Zeldris only had Gemini before, but they decided to add the other zodiacs to make him stronger)**.

_With that, he was left alone, and the Minotera scientists(because that's actually a thing)took their leave._

_Before the last scientist out shut the door, he whispered..._

**"You'll grow to be a very interesting specimen, my Zeldris."**

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•ᴥ•ʔっʕっ•ᴥ•ʔっʕっ•ᴥ•ʔっʕっ•ᴥ•ʔっʕっ•ᴥ•ʔっʕっ•ᴥ•ʔっʕ

**Hope you enjoyed! I'll try to update every other day! No promises, though.**

**From,**

** LittleDonutTohrou**


	2. Found

"Merlin, have you had any word from Zeldris yet?" Arthur asked the witch, pacing around his throne room(which he didn't like very much).

It's been two weeks since the Minotera mission and Zeldris's suicide, and Arthur still has yet to hear the news.

"No, I haven't, Arthur," Merlin groaned in response. It was a stone faced lie, but she didn't want to admit that to Arthur. She cared for him, like a son, and telling him that she pretty much assassinated his love would have torn down what they had.

"Are you sure? Maybe we should do one last check."

Arthur was panicking, clearly. He looked tired and it was apparent he hasn't gotten a full nights sleep since the disappearance.

"Arthur, please. I—"

"Merlin!!"

The doors to the throne room burst open revealing two worried figures—Ban and Meliodas. Meliodas looked outraged and Ban looked worried for the Captain.

"Yes, What is it you need Meliodas?" The woman half-groaned.

"Where is my brother?! It has already been a full two weeks since he's gone missing and you have made no effort in finding him!! Do you have something to do with this?!" Meliodas stomped over to Merlin, his face turning red with anger.

"My, my, what a temper," Merlin dodged the question with her usual smile, "That's quite the accusation you're making, now isn't it, _Captain?"_

"Merlin, this is not a game! I want my little Zel back, and I'm sure Arthur does, too!"

"Mel, calm down. I know you're upset but if we want to find Zeldris we'll need to act with rationality." Ban reassured, or, at least he tried.

Meliodas took a few deep breaths before looking back up at the witch.

"You were instructing Zeldris and Arthur's mission. What did you tell him to do?"

"I don't feel obligated to answer that question."

The reply Merlin gave to his question struck curiosity and suspicion in the hearts of all three men. It was now apparent that she had said something not too good to Zeldris before he disappeared.

"Merlin, please!" Arthur chimed in.

"You are not to speak to me in that tone, mister." Merlin glared.

"Well, I am when you're clearly in the wrong! You did something and you won't tell us what!"

"Whatever it is she isn't telling us is most likely not long to come out any time ever. We'll just have to look ourselves, I suppose." Ban groaned.

"That's right," Meliodas sighed before turning to scowl at Merlin again, "Now if I find out he's hurt—or worse, _woman, _you're as good as dead."

The blond took Ban's hand and stalked out of the room, still clearly fuming but trying to hide it for the sake of staying rational.

"I'm going too." Arthur turned and grabbed Excalibur. He was on his way out the door before he was stopped by Merlin.

"You're not going anywhere. You have to stay here in case something happens." It was obviously an excuse to keep him there, but he didn't fall for it. Instead he fell for Zeldris—head over heels—and was not going to let him stay missing. Not when there was still a chance he was out there and alive.

"Yes I am. The Sins and the Commandments can take care of anything that happens. We also have the holy knights—Gilthunder, Howzer, Griamore, Hendrickson, Dreyfus, Jericho, and the list goes on," the orange-headed male retorted quite harshly, "If it's the last thing I do, I'm going to find him, Merlin. I don't care what you say."

"Why do you care for such a creature? He's a _demon_, Arthur, and he did so many awful things—and not just to you and your Kingdom. With the amount of blood on his hands, why would you ever trust him?"

There was a silence, the only sound being the breeze coming in from the window making the room cold.

"So," Arthur said, "You have killed people, too. Both you and Zeldris have hands dirtied with the blood of deserving and undeserving souls, yet you want me to trust you, but not him?"

Merlin stayed quiet.

"Hell, I've killed people before, so should I not trust myself?"

Still silent.

"Take some time to think on that, Merlin. Now, I _am _going to find Zeldris and there is absolutely nothing you can do to stop me. I'll see you later."

With that, the doors shut, leaving the mage by herself.

Arthur caught up with Meliodas and Ban, and the three, together, set off to the demon realm.

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_Where am I?_

_What's going on?_

_What is this stuff?_

Two heterochromatic eyes opened up, though the darkness made it difficult to tell.

A very faint light shone through whatever substance he was encased in, and it was claustrophobic.

For a second, he had thought he had been buried alive, but when he moved his hand up and felt the rubbery yet rope-like material surrounding him on all sides, he knew the thought was irrational.

His hand pushed up against the material, and he heard a snapping of a few threads keeping him closed off from reality.

_What if I..._

His hand pushed harder and, this time, he broke through. His hand was now visible in the pale lighting, and he took a second to marvel at the blue scales that covered the back of his hand, stopping at his knuckles.

He retracted his hand for a second—that was _his _hand, right?—back into the warmth of his little shell, using his other hand to feel the coolness of his fingertips, and he shivered as the air blew into his cramped space.

_So cold..._

He used his other hand and pushed through again, so now there were two holes the size of his hand in his shell.

This one had scales, too.

He loved his shell. It was so warm compared to the new world he was discovering, and he could hide there always from anything that could harm him. But, for some reason, he was so temped to break free and see what this new, cold world had in store for him.

He took both of his hands and put them in the space between the two holes and pushed again, and the two holes conjoined, forming one large hole. Now, he could see.

Now, he sat up, his head rising from the cocoon he was left in.

"What is my name?" He asked nobody in particular.

A voice in his head spoke.

_Arthur..._

"I am 'Arthur'?"

_No...Arthur._

"What is an 'Arthur'?"

_You must find it. You must find the...Arthur._

"I must find the Arthur."

_Yes._

"I **must **find the 'Arthur'."

"I must find the 'Arthur'."

"I must find the 'Arthur'."

Over and over, he repeated that phrase as he climbed out of his cocoon.

His bare feet touched the cold floor, making his breath hitch and a shudder go down his back.

"I must find the 'Arthur'."

He waved goodbye to his cocoon before going off to find what he was looking for.

_Who _he was looking for.

Leaving for the window, he—almost on instinct—drew his wings. Purple sparks whirred around them, and took off wonkily, like a baby dragon learning to fly.

"I must find the 'Arthur'."

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"Any sign of him yet?" Ban asked Meliodas, jumping through a forest of dead trees.

"No, but I'm picking up a bit of a scent."

The men ended up where Arthur and Zeldris were fighting the swarms of Minotera. Dead henchmen laid on the ground scattered every where, and until the center was an empty space—where they had been standing.

"Some of his magic is still lingering...I can sense it." Arthur pointed out, looking up at the constellations above them.

"Yeah, me too." Meliodas said, "So you said he left you alone to deal with something else, right? Which way did he go?"

"He flew off that way, I think." Arthur pointed in the direction of central purgatory. Immediately the three knew where he went.

"Oh god, he went to the castle." Ban grumbled.

"Well, we had better act fast!! Come on!"

The three took off again, headed for the castle.

On the way there, they had spotted a figure aimlessly walking down below. They seemed to be going away from the palace.

"Maybe they have some info!" Arthur called.

From the person, they heard an, 'Oh', then they waved at the three.

"What in the hell?" Ban said. Without a second thought, Arthur swooped down to talk to whoever that person was.

"Alright, who are you and what do you know?" Arthur asked coldly. He didn't even take a good look at the stranger's face. All he noticed was long black hair and scales on the forearms and shins.

"I do not know who I am," the person says, "and frankly, it does not matter who I am. I know nothing. Nothing but the fact that I must find something very important."

The voice of this stranger caught Arthur off guard and he was forced to try and see the person. He had though his voice was scarily familiar, and then he found out why.

Tears filled his eyes as he realized that this person was none other than—

"Zeldris...!"

••••

**And, cliffhanger. Or something. How was that for a chapter? I think I did pretty well with the imagery. What do you guys think? Did I do an OK job?**


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